Vista engineer earns major humanitarian honor

VISTA —— Sudabeh "Sudi" Shoja has a schedule that's enough to
make even the busiest person feel lazy. In addition to her duties
as Vista's assistant director of public works and engineering,
Shoja is a mother of two who commutes to work from Laguna Niguel
and still manages to devote about 20 hours a week to child-centered
humanitarian efforts in Mexico, Iran, Turkey, India and
Afghanistan.

Her humanitarian work has recently earned her the most
prestigious honor the engineering world has to offer: the Hoover
Medal, whose past winners include Presidents William Henry
Harrison, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter.

Shoja began outreach work at a young age, serving food to
orphans in her native Iran. But the accomplished civil engineer,
who is trilingual, said Wednesday that she never expected to
receive accolades.

"It's an enormous honor, my feet have not touched the ground
yet," Shoja said Wednesday. "I'm hoping that this medal will remind
people of children around them, and maybe it will remind people to
extend a hand to them."

This October, the American Society of Civil Engineers will
present Shoja with the solid gold medal, and to add another feather
in her cap, Shoja will be only the second female to win the award
in its 76-year history.

Established in 1929, the medal recognizes outstanding civic and
humanitarian achievements of engineers. The award is administered
by a board representing five engineering organizations: The
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society of
Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the
American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers
and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Patrick J. Natale, the executive director of American Society of
Civil Engineers, said Wednesday that Shoja "exemplifies the
dedication to advancing the well-being of humankind that the Hoover
Medal stands for. Her commitment to the welfare of the worldís
underprivileged children is an inspiration,"

Shoja, who speaks English, Farsi and Turkish, was born in Iran
but moved to the United States in 1976 after graduating from high
school. She attended Purdue University and received her master's
degree in civil engineering, then moved to Southern California,
where she and her husband settled and raised their two children, a
9-year-old son and 24-year-old daughter, who have also become
involved in her outreach work.

"You have to be very organized and efficient in what you do,"
Shoja said of her time management skills. "When i commute, i have
to use that time effectively, returning phone calls. When I am at
work, I have to really focus on work, so that I can complete it all
and can move on."

Most of her efforts are focused on projects that allow
underprivileged children in other countries to attend school.

"Children are victims of their environment, and they can't do
anything about it," she said. "We have to help them."

In many cases, Shoja said, high school-age children are forced
to go to work because their parents do not have the financial
stability to support them.